


Scooby Redux - Where Are You?

by SketcherBoy



Category: Scooby Doo Where Are You! (TV 1969)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Inspired by Scooby Doo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-12
Updated: 2019-01-08
Packaged: 2019-06-09 01:22:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15256320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SketcherBoy/pseuds/SketcherBoy
Summary: Straight man Fred Jones, fashionista Daphne Blake, brainiac Velma Dinkley, slacker Shaggy Rogers, and talking Great Dane Scooby-Doo, are as ordinary as a group of citizens can be in a creepy hotspot like Coolsville. Wherever they seem to go, they run into the weirdest characters, the creepiest places, and the tastiest foods. The only problem is that some of these mysterious occurrences are more than meets the eye, yet the adults in their town don't seem to agree. Can a bunch of meddling kids from the 90's prove that there really is something dangerous to be wary of when the street lights come on? Find out in this gripping retelling of 'Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?'.





	1. Anybody Home?

_Thursday, September 12, 1996_

“What a nervous night to be walkin’ home from the movies, Scooby-Doo.” A shaky voice spoke out among the sounds of crickets, and owls hooting in the Crystal Cove woods. The source of the statement of course being from a young man, no more than seventeen at the most. His green T-shirt appeared to be the only thing that could be made out through the darkness of the night, and the thickness of the fog. Unlike his brown companion walking alongside him, who just happened to be a Great Dane breed.

“And, all because _you_ had to see ‘Star, Dog Ranger of the North Woods’. Twice!” The young man clarified as he held up his index, and middle fingers for emphasis. The Great Dane, affectionately known as ‘Scooby-Doo’ simply released a few happy giggles as he nodded his head, signaling that he was proud of his decision to have his human friend accompany him to a movie presentation two times. It almost made you wonder just why the theater allowed a dog into the screening rooms in the first place. Before either of them could further dwell on their previous events, a sudden croaking started to sound off near them, halting their words for just a moment.

“What the-? ‘Sat you?” The lanky male asked his canine friend, to which Scooby simply shook his head to signal that he hadn’t made the noise. “T-Then, like...it must be comin’ from the bushes...you’d better see what it is, Scoob.” That suggestion merely made the dog jolt upward with a look of shock, and confusion.

“Don’t worry! I’m right behind ya.”

“...rhanks a rot.” Scooby sarcastically thanked his friend before directing his attention back to the bush before him, figuring that it would just have to be now or never before he was feeding his curiosity to find out just what the noise was. Taking a deep breath, Scooby was soon leaning his head downward until it was completely engulfed by the dark green leaves. A bit of rustling later, and the dog was bringing his head back to reveal to the teenager that it was simply just a toad that had frightened them. The small creature resting on Scooby’s nose.

“Well, geez! Guess you’ve found a new travelin’ buddy, Scoob!” The teen commented with a chuckle, just seconds before the toad decided to suddenly spring off the dog’s snout with a ‘sproing’ noise being left behind with his exit from the scene. Naturally Scooby began to give chase to the small toad, due to over excitement, a barrage of barks leaving his muzzle as he ran down the dirt path with all four of his legs.

“Scooby, come back! Wait-!” The human raised his arm to try and call his friend back before he got into anymore trouble, his long, jean covered legs carrying him straight after the two animals for a good five minutes before his sneaker covered feet ended up tripping right over Scooby’s hunched back. It seemed that the trail for the toad had been lost, and Scooby forgot to signal that he had stopped, resulting in the lanky male now laying on his stomach with a groan.

“...next time, you may consider having a signal ready for me.” The human commented with a small roll of his eyes before he turned his head, letting his dark brows raise upward.

“Whoa...check that out!” He was soon sitting upright, Scooby turning his own head to see that there was an abandoned pick-up truck parked on the nearby road. It looked like it had gotten into a recent accident, and it got the boys curious enough to walk over towards it.

“Anybody home?” The six foot tall man called out jokingly as him and his dog stopped right in front of the driver door. What neither of them expected was to get an answer back, especially not from what currently sat in front of them. In the driver’s seat, there appeared to be the upper body of a black suit of armor currently gripping the steering wheel of the truck. The one, and impossible response that the empty suit had given was only in the form of a low, and creepy squeak coming from the head area. Coincidentally enough, that seemed to be the area that was giving way as the helmet started rocking, eventually falling right off the shoulders until it landed right in front of the man, and dog duo.

“...hah…hah-hah..!” The boy and Great Dane attempted to laugh and get a kick out of what they’d just witnessed, but they just couldn’t find any humor in such a horrifying image. The two of them were both sent running back where they had come from, panting and breathing heavily out of sheer fear.

“Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!” The teenager repeated to himself as one of his hands quickly darted down into the back pocket of his brown, baggy pants, pulling out a cell phone before his thumb was flipping it open.

“I gotta call Fred!” The male frantically spoke out as he dialed the corresponding numbers on the phone’s pad. It was clear that this was a matter that couldn’t be handled by just the two of them, so they would need all the assistance they could get. Elsewhere in the city, there was a lone van driving down a dark road, the headlights allowing the large vehicle to part the fog to allow it further entry for each mile. Inside the vehicle of the blue, green, and orange color variety were three individuals that seemed to be accustomed, and matching with them respectively.

“I’m just saying, a bear with a tie sounds a little far-fetched.” One of the two females continued a previously established conversation as she sat behind the two front seats that the driver, and passenger were placed down in. She appeared to have short brown hair, a pair of glasses to give great detail to her accompanying brown eyes, freckles spotted all along her pale face, and a bright orange turtleneck sweater all snug around her short figure.

“It’s exactly as I read it in the news! A tall grizzly was spotted in the middle of the park, attempting to nab a picnic basket wearing a green hat, and tie. What could you possibly mistake it for, Velma?” The other female in the passenger seat asked while turning her head to address her friend with glasses. She herself was dolled up a bit more feminine. Accompanying her beautiful features, and flowing locks of red hair was a fashionable purple dress with a light green scarf wrapped nice and secure around her neck, her gloss coated lips smiling with humor.

“You’re leaving out the possibility of it being a really hairy man, Daphne.” The most masculine of the three pointed out as he raised an index finger, his opposite hand holding onto the steering wheel in front of him. He looked to be quite handsome with the way his short blonde hair was combed, along with a long-sleeved white shirt to cover his physique underneath. What really seemed to tie together the boy’s American look was the orange ascot tied securely through the neck of his blue collar.

“No average bear is smarter than the rest. Therefore, the logical conclusion is that it was simply just a homeless, unusually hairy man looking to get a quick snack! Plus-” The driver was forced to halt his counter argument as he heard the sound of his phone ringing in his pocket. Curious enough about the sudden call this late, the blond decided to pull out the device and check out who was making the call.

“It’s Shaggy! I thought he was at the movies?” He pondered aloud before flipping the phone open and pressing it to his ear.

“Hello? Shag-...whoa, whoa, hey! Calm down. You saw what?” The two girls near their driver gave confused glances towards one another as they witnessed what could be quite the call of distress.

“He’s saying that he and Scooby found a...headless body?” The young man spoke towards his friends before focusing his attention back onto his phone call.

“Alright. Just tell us where you are, and we’ll come to you!” He tried to explain before quite the shocking sight emerged in front of the van’s headlights, causing Daphne to let out a scream.

“Fred! Watch out!” She shouted out to the driver, causing him to pull his focus from the phone and to the actual direction in which he was going. His blue eyes widened up considerably as he could barely make out two figures that seemed to be coming right at them, causing Fred to slam his sneaker covered foot straight against the brake pedal. Just as soon as the car had come to a complete stop, the figures were sooner faceplanting against the wide windshield of the vehicle. The sources of the near accident were revealed to be Scooby himself, and his human best friend, faces flat against the window with puzzled expressions.

“...you could’ve chosen a less grand way of telling me, Shag.” Fred spoke, still not losing that shocked look that he had gained from the realization that he nearly ran over his two friends, who seemed to be taking their sweet time with sliding off the windshield.

“What in the world were you two running from anyway?” Velma decided to pipe up after she stepped out of the van through the double back doors, approaching the human and dog duo to see if they needed any medical attention. Shaggy was the one to hop up onto his feet first, revealing to be quite alright despite the life changing experience he had just lived through.

“What else?! Something scary!” Shaggy explained with his skinny arms raised in the air with panic.

“Reah! Real rary!” Scooby interjected as he shook on all four of his legs, looking like a deer caught in a pair of headlights. Especially considering that he was still standing in front of the brightly colored van’s shining lights.

“We were literally just standing in front of a guy with his hands on the wheel of his truck, and his head just...fell right off!” Shaggy looked like he was almost going to break down, if Fred hadn’t stepped out of the vehicle and placed his hands on the other male’s shoulders.

“Shag, c’mon. I’m sure there’s a perfectly good explanation to what you saw.” The blond tried to speak naturally to calm his friend down, but the lankier of the two seemed to be focused on gripping both sides of his own head as he shivered.

“I-I didn’t even stop to take off the helmet he had on! I thought body armor was supposed to protect people-”

“Wait...armor?” Fred interjected with an even more confused tone than before, his eyes soon going into a small squint. Daphne, and Velma both seemed to share the same skeptical expression as they glanced towards each other.

“...I think it’s time we got another look at this body~.” Fred simply smiled calmly as he cocked his head towards the van behind him, gesturing Shaggy and Scooby to join Velma inside before the team of teenagers were continuing their journey down the road. Luckily Shaggy and Scooby hadn’t ran too far from the action before the Mystery Machine was parking itself just behind the truck that contained a headless suit of armor in the front seat, and a giant crate in the back.

“And this is where you found it, guys?” Fred asked quizzically as he switched off the van, turning his head to see the guys cowering in the back.

“Like, don’t remind us! Just see for yourself!” Shaggy’s index finger pointed towards the blue colored vehicle parked in front of them, causing the three braver members of the group to step out of the van, and start to investigate with their flashlights. Upon closer inspection of the armor seated in the truck’s front seat, it soon became obviously clear to Fred, and the girls that it wasn’t actually a body that had lost it’s head, but rather just an empty suit of armor belonging to a knight.

“Put your minds at ease, fellas! It’s completely empty in here.” Velma called out as she pointed her flashlight towards the cowardly pair that were seated in the front of the group’s van. Hesitantly, but obediently, they stepped out to join the others surrounding the crashed truck.

“But, Shaggy was right, though. This is pretty strange!” Daphne remarked as she shined her light among the armor’s outer shoulder, just before she was walking around towards the back to find any type of information regarding the large crate’s significance.

“You’re telling me! What would an empty suit of armor be doing in the driver’s seat of this pick-up?” The leader of the group tapped his chin as he turned his head back towards Velma, who he assumed would have a logical answer.

“Maybe he was...going out for the knight!” Shaggy ended up being the one to give the answer, albeit less logical than what Fred would have expected. Scooby seemed to be the only one finding that little quip hilarious, while Velma just gave a small roll of her eyes behind those glasses.

“We may not know why it’s here, but I think we have a good idea on where it was coming from. Take a look at this, Fred.” Daphne called the blond over with a dainty hand before pointing her light to something that was placed on the side of the wooden crate in the back. It took a small moment of reading for Fred to grasp the armor’s origin.

“Hmm...apparently it was coming from London, England, and being delivered by an archaeologist professor named ‘Jameson Hyde White’.” The leader read through the shipping information curiously.

“Like, I’ve heard of hide and seek before, but I’ve never heard of Hyde White!” Shaggy remarked with another pun before him and his best friend proceeded to laugh about it once more.

“You comedians, that’s a legitimate English name~.” Velma commented to the taller person’s joke while lightly smacking his forearm.

“Hey, what’s this?” Daphne asked mostly to herself as she crouched down beside one of the front tires of the truck, picking up a small slip of paper that had been laying on the road.

“It’s a delivery label that says to...deliver to the county museum? At least we know where the old knight was headed for!” The redhead piped up to the rest of the group with a smile.

“That’s usin’ the old noodle, Daph, but like...if our mysterious professor was the one driving, then where is he now?” Shaggy asked while folding his arms and tilting his head, Scooby easily mimicking those actions with his front legs.

“Off the top of my head, I’d have to say he’s disappeared. Who knows how long this truck has been sitting here?” One of Daphne’s hips cocked out as she placed a hand against it.

“There’s no telling. But, I’ll tell you this. I think it sounds like we’re up to our armor plates in another mystery!” Fred announced to the group as he placed his own hands on his hips.

“And, our first option should be to complete the professor’s delivery in the morning before school. Who’ll volunteer to keep the knight at their house tonight?” The leader type glanced around towards his friends, who seemed to go completely silent at the question. Nothing but the sounds of crickets filling the outside air around them.

“...well, don’t everybody rush all at once now. Just raise your hand if you’re game! Anyone at all.” Just a few seconds after his offer had been placed down on the table, the gang’s Great Dane decided to get a little sneaky as he reached his paw down to grab a nearby broken branch, raising the end of it just behind Shaggy’s head to lightly scratch against his skull in a rather annoying manner. As soon as the tall male raised his hand and attempted to bat away at whatever was bothering him, his fate was immediately sealed.

“Ah! I knew we could count on you, Shagster!” Fred opened up his arms as he gave two thumbs up towards the skinniest teen of the four.

“Huh?! Oh no…” There was nothing stopping Shaggy from seeing the big picture that he had been duped by his own buddy, and his hand was the only one being held up. Sometimes he wished that Scooby would learn to keep his big paws down.

 

 

_Friday, August 15, 1988_

“You have to understand, Mrs. Rogers, Scoobert is a sort of...special case.” An elderly woman explained with a bit of a hesitant expression on her face. She was seated behind a desk with her hands folded against the surface of it, her graying hair curled up at every place at once, while her triangle shaped glasses were securely resting against her nose to clearly help her see the much younger looking woman sitting in front of her.

“Well, my son is the same way, Mrs. Knittingham!” The lighter skinned female with much straighter, blonde hair spoke out with a chipper tone in comparison as she folded her hands in her lap.

“Having Scoobert in his life would be really important to him. Despite either of their quirks, these two were definitely made for each other.” Mrs. Rogers mused as she glanced out the nearby window to see a young child, not much older than ten, playing with a brown, black-spotted puppy out in the sunny day. No mistake about it, they were getting along pretty well as they rolled around on the grass with one another, just enjoying one another’s company before the small Great Dane was cheering through the air.

_“Scooby Dooby Dooooooooo~!”_


	2. Legend of the Black Knight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby successfully deliver the suit of black armor to the Coolsville county museum, where the curator gives them a bit of insight on the armor's cursed origins.

_Friday, September 13, 1996 - 6:45 A.M._

Early the next morning, Fred was pretty much the only one to show up at Shaggy’s house with The Mystery Machine, because god forbid the two females of the group would be waking up this early. It was almost a surprise that even Shaggy and Scooby were getting up at the current hour. Although, they both had to live with the fact that there had been a creepy suit of armor sitting in the garage all night, so it shouldn’t be a surprise that they might have been too scared to sleep.

“I gotta tell you, Fred. This has to be the weirdest thing that I’ve ever kept in my garage before..!” Shaggy struggled to explain as he was lifting up one side of the large crate that contained the equally large knight. It was a two man, and dog job to be accomplished clearly. While Shaggy was working on holding one side, and Fred with the other, Scooby was supporting the bottom side on his back from down below.

“Sorry, Shaggy. But, if we’d just left it on the side of the road, then someone might’ve stolen it! Trust me, we’re doing the right thing here.” Fred reassured his scared companions as he led them to the back of his van, allowing them all the opportunity to securely slide the crate inside and strap it in. The three of them all wiped their foreheads free of any sweat drops with relief.

“The important thing is that nobody knows we have it until it’s delivered to the museum. Your parents didn’t find out, did they?” Fred asked as he turned towards Shaggy and Scooby with a cautious gaze.

“Well, like I said. This may be the weirdest thing I’ve kept in my garage, but it’s definitely not the first thing I’ve hid from my folks before. The real hard part was tryin’ to keep my lil’ sis from gettin’ at it with her twenty one questions!”

“Blah, blah, blah!” Scooby further illustrated his friend’s point by mimicking the little sister in question, using one of his paws to imitate a flapping mouth in addition to his actual flapping muzzle. Fred could only chuckle in amusement at the duo’s behavior. 

“And, like I said before. I knew I could count on you guys. Good news is, you guys can take a little rest in.” Shaggy and Scooby both showed expressions of relief on hearing the most pleasant news. Because frankly, they were both pretty tired. 

“The bad news is that we have to be at school in an hour. So let’s go ahead and take this guy on over to the museum now, so we don’t run into trouble later.” As soon as the blonde patted Shaggy’s shoulder, the skinnier of the two teenagers almost felt like collapsing right in the street. But, he should have expected this for doing the right thing. Already having his school backpack on hand, Shaggy went ahead and climbed into the Mystery Machine’s passenger seat, with Scooby finding himself a secure spot in the back to take a short little nap. 

Thankfully it didn’t take the three boys too long to make it towards their destination, which appeared to be one of the taller buildings in Coolsville. The county museum, which looked about as grand, and fancy as one could expect from a typical museum in this side of Ohio. When the very colorful van arrived near the front steps of the place, it certainly caught the attention of the main entrance’s security guards that were starting their duty for the morning, giving each other puzzled looks before they glanced towards who was coming out.

“Hey, morning gentlemen!” Fred stepped out from the driver’s side, looking legitimately professional-like with his open white jacket, blue collared undershirt, and orange tie that reached halfway down his upper body. The soles of his light brown shoes lightly tapped against the pavement with each step he took towards the two guards, who seemed less than interested with whatever business he was bringing with that goofy looking van. 

“Sorry, kid. Museum don’t open until ten.” The taller and thinner of the two guards claimed as he crossed his arms over his chest, though not enough to hide the name tag that was on the front of his uniform, which had the name ‘Ernie’ written across it.

“Oh no, no, I’m not looking for admission, sirs. My clients and I actually have something in the back of the van that you might be interested in--” Fred didn’t even have the opportunity to finish his own sentence before he was suddenly being grabbed straight by the orange tie wrapped around his neck.

“The only thing we’re interested in seein’ that van do is gettin’ the hell off the property, now get lost, Butthead!” The shorter and heavier of the two security guards demanded as he kept the blonde teenager at bay by gripping his tie, his own nametag reading ‘Slab’, and looking like it was just poorly written in sharpie.

“Oh, man!” Shaggy, and Scooby were of course quick to step out of the Mystery Machine, though they were quite hesitant about what exactly they could do to help their friend out of the situation at hand.

“Scoob, there comes a time in every man and dog’s life when you gotta do something really stupid for your friends, even if it gets them hurt really bad.” Shaggy fearfully stated as he clenched his fists shakingly, and slightly bent his legs.

“Rou rot a point?!” Scooby counteracted as he gripped both of his own ears on top of his head with his paws, his set of teeth rattling against one another.

“...not really, but let’s charge on one!” The tall male suggested as he braced himself and smacked his own elbows, his canine companion mimicking his movements.

“Three...two...o-”

“What in the world is going on here?” A calmer voice asked nearby, causing both of the cowards to turn their heads towards the source. There appeared to be a middle aged man standing with his hands crossed behind his back, dressed in a fancy brown suit, tie, and glasses plastered onto his pale face.

“Uh--my friend was just tryin’ to bring your knight back to you, Sir!” Shaggy explained while motioning towards the back doors of the van, right before opening them up and revealing the same wooden crate that had been carried all the way over to the place.

“The black knight! Oh dear…” Of course the older man was surprised to see such a sight as his eyebrows perked up, frankly more focused on the crate in front of him, rather than the struggle between Fred, and the security guards. 

“Gentlemen, stop!” The balding, middle aged man raised one of his hands in a halting gesture towards the three males standing opposite of himself, Shaggy, and Scooby. To the latter two’s surprise, the fight had ended with not only one person getting hurt, but two as well. Fred seemed to have both of the guards in tight chokeholds as both of their heads were pinned at his sides, the teenager only giving a confused blink when he was ordered to stop.

“You are the one in charge of bringing this here?” The older man addressed the younger, which caused the blonde to release the two guys by his sides before wiping down the front of his white jacket with a sheepish smile.

“Yes, Sir! Who are you?” Fred asked in a rather blunt manner, but politely all the same, acting like he didn’t just assault two dudes in public, who had noticeable bruises on their faces at this point. 

“I am Jeremiah Wickles. The curator of this museum.” The man introduced himself. In only a matter of minutes, the teenaged duo and their dog had finally been granted admission inside of the building with permission from the curator. Soon enough, the four of them were standing next to the crate that had now been standing upright, and leaning against the wall.

“Oh dear, oh dear...I suppose I should thank you three for finding the black knight here.” Mr. Wickles started as he looked towards the crate that had been opened, revealing the suit of black armor standing tall, and shiny in the light.

“But, with professor Hyde White’s mysterious disappearance, and all...I almost wish you hadn’t.” He warily continued as his gaze focused back onto the teenagers.

“Huh? Why’s that, Mr. Wickles?” Fred tilted his head as he crossed his arms over his chest, clearly awaiting an explanation.

“Because of the legend. Supposedly, the black knight is supposed to come alive when the moon is full at night.” Jeremiah told Fred, who had taken the liberty of pulling out his little journal and pencil from his back pocket, starting to take down notes as they were discussed.

“Wait, like...wasn’t the moon full last night?” Shaggy whispered towards Fred as he started shaking once more. The leader simply patted the coward’s shoulder as a signal for him to cool down, right before turning back to the curator.

“So, you’re telling me that the black knight was under it’s own curse, and kidnapped the professor just out of nowhere? Do you have any idea how long this legend dates back to?” While Fred and Wickles were having their own little discussion, nobody had even taken the time to notice that the black knight had been staring down at them for the last few minutes. A green glow was apparent from behind it’s visor, and Scooby seemed to be the only one that was noticing. 

“Alright, where do you want this thing, Mr. Wickles?” Ernie, the taller of the security guards decided to pipe up while being prepared to carry the crate elsewhere, but not before shooting Fred a small glare for being the reason that he was now wearing bandages on his face. The blonde only gave a smug little smile.

“Hmm...just place it in the medieval room. I’ll organize it later.” Wickles addressed the two guards as they closed the crate, completely blowing any chances that Scooby had of warning his friends about what he’d witnessed inside of it. Just before the guards were completely out of the room, the Great Dane happened to notice something falling out of Ernie’s back pocket, causing the curious dog to head over to the spot just to see what they were. The brown furred animal was looking down at what appeared to be a cross between goggles, and ordinary glasses, definitely unlike what he saw Velma wearing. Just as he was about to pick them up with his mouth, he suddenly heard the voice of his best friend calling out.

“Yo, Scooby-Doo! Where are you?” Shaggy asked, causing a slight echo that got Scooby’s attention momentarily.

“Come on, Scooby! We’re leaving!” Fred called out just after Shaggy, reminding the Great Dane that the teenagers still had to go to school this morning. Realizing that he had much limited time, Scooby decided to just bend down and pick up the outlandish glasses between his teeth, hurrying behind his friends as they made their way towards where they came in originally. It wasn’t long until they were all back inside of the van, and heading off towards their next destination, not even seeing that Mr. Wickles had been standing at the front entrance while watching them head off. 

“Like, NOW can we get some food?” Shaggy pleaded with the driver as he rubbed his loudly growling stomach in agony, leaning back against his seat while watching the steadily rising sun come up over the horizon of their city.

“Aren’t you the least bit curious about what happened to professor Hyde White, Shaggy? We should be thinking about where he is, and what kind of danger he could be in if that curse is true! This whole mystery has me baffled.” Fred mused as he casually tapped his fingertips against the round surface of the steering wheel.

“Man, it’s got ME like, hungry. Scoob and I haven’t eaten since Midnight. Right, buddy?” The messy-haired boy turned his head towards his loyal companion who decided to pop up with a smile, wearing the seeing devices that he had found back at the museum.

“Ruh-huh! Ret’s eat!” Scooby started wagging his tail at the idea of getting some breakfast. Meanwhile Fred’s attention had been gained as he looked up into the rear-view mirror just to see what Scooby had on his muzzle.

“Hey, Scoob. What the heck are you wearing?” Fred asked as he raised one of his eyebrows in confusion.

“They look like some crazy kinda glasses.” Shaggy blinked twice as he reached forward and grabbed the specs from Scooby, deciding to examine them for himself.

“You must’ve found those at the museum, huh boy?” The blondest of the two students asked as he gave a bit of a smile, to which Scooby nodded in confirmation. 

“Man, I wonder what kinda kooky things you could see with these!” Shaggy was curious enough to raise the glasses on up towards his face while peering through them. As soon as he did, he was viewing the neon sign that signaled the approaching presence of the nearby malt shop that Fred just so happened to be pulling into the parking lot of. 

“I guess there’s only one way to find out. But first, we should probably get a little food in us. Morning classes suck on an empty stomach, after all.” Shaggy and Scooby both felt their eyeballs widening when they realized that Fred was deciding to humor them by making a quick stop. Their pupils were replaced with imaginary imagery of pancakes in one eye, and sunny-side up eggs in the other. Nothing but cheers were filling the Mystery Machine as it got pulled into a nice space near the front exit. Three friends, and endless possibilities in the morning. What could be better?

_Saturday, August 6, 1988_

“C’mon, Rogers! Just loan me your bike for the weekend. You don’t look like yer usin’ it for anything important anyway.” A rough young voice demanded, belonging to a muscly looking kid that appeared to have a bright red afro atop his big head, and ratty looking clothes that would only belong to a bully, with the addition of a tattoo in the form of a heart having an arrow stabbed through it.

“W-Well, like Red, I’m starting my delivery gig in a couple weeks, y’know? I kinda want my new bike to be in good shape, since you kinda...r-ruined my stuff when you ‘borrowed’ them last time?” A young boy in a green T-shirt, with shaggy brown hair appeared to be getting interrogated as he stood beside his shiny red bike, holding onto the handlebars like he was about to get mugged for it. Surprisingly enough, there seemed to be a stunning lack of a small Great Dane with him.

“I told ya’ already, Rogers. Your skateboard was just crappy! S’not my fault that it snapped in half. You ain’t callin’ me fat or nothin’. Are ya’, Rogers?” The taller boy stepped much closer as he decided to go ahead and start reaching his large, grubby hands for the bike himself. 

“Wait, Red no!” As soon as the smaller kid could even have a chance to defend himself, he was soon enough being pushed down onto his back against the pavement. Like clockwork, he had expected the toughest out of the two of them to just walk away and call him a weenie like he usually did when he took stuff from the rest of the neighborhood kids. But, as it turned out, they didn’t seem to be the only kids in the area at the moment. The boy on the ground was quick to notice the silhouette figure of a stranger running up behind Red, completely without the musclehead knowing until the last second.

“What the-?!” Was the only thing Red had time to utter before the most jam-packed beating ensued upon him. The shaggy-haired boy had only managed to catch glimpses of the action happening in front of him, mainly because he had been trying to shield his own eyes for most of it. If there had been anyone else around to witness the whole thing, they could probably describe it as a scene from one of the ‘Kill Bill’ movies. Only with less swords, and more wooden planks that had been torn from the nearby fence. 

“Grk! This year’s gonna be worse for you now, freak!” Red personally vowed and shouted as he stood up with a bit of a limp, only mildly bruised as he left the bike alone, and ditched the scene rather quickly. The shaggy-haired boy was left to look at his potential savior that appeared to have a high buzz-cut style of hair that was colored blonde, along with a blue T-shirt with an orange stripe running through the middle of it. The boy on the ground probably would have ran away, but thankfully the stranger had dropped the wooden fence plank so he would appear less threatening. 

“Hey, don’t worry about that kid anymore, alright? If he ever tries to give you a tough time, just come find me!” The optimistic blonde kid smiled, letting his face get shown as he bent down and reached his arm outward, offering his hand to be taken for assistance. 

“Who...who are you?” The brown-haired kid couldn’t have mistaken the other for a guardian angel, not unless he got an actual name.

“Oh! I’m Fred! Fred Jones.” Fred Jones. A name that would not be soon forgotten. Not if Shaggy could help it.


	3. Only In England

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang starts planning out their next steps to look deeper into the knight mystery after the boys' museum trip gives them a new clue to go off of.

_Friday, September 13, 1996 - 8:25 A.M._

“So, in conclusion, students. Provided that the new armies for the country had new weapons such as longbows, the armor belonging to the knights were rendered utterly useless.” A rather plain looking professor explained in a rather dull sounding voice, to a rather bored looking class. Well, save for one student in particular sitting at the very front jotting down notes that took up every single corner of her notebook’s page.

“And, as a result, it was easier to arm a soldier, and pay for a standing army!” 

“Yes. Very good, Miss Dinkley.” The professor addressed the eager young student known as Velma with a nod of his head, obviously expecting her to respond with something smart, as well as the other students sitting around her. It was only a few seconds after she had made her astute observation that the bell finally decided to ring, signaling the end of the day’s first period.

“Now, remember. Your research reports on at least _one_ historical artifact are due on Monday.” The man next to the chalkboard attempted to remind his students, but most, if not all of them were already headed out the door so they could spend the next five minutes conversing in the hallways. Velma in particular was about to get swept into the usual crowd of the much taller students, but thankfully there was one other tall soul that was kind enough to grab onto the sleeve of her crimson top, and pull her to the less busy area.

“J-Jinkies!” Was all that stumbled out of her mouth before she bumped face first into the source of her rescue. Upon adjusting her glasses, and opening up her eyes, she noticed that she was staring straight at the black fabric of a T-shirt before she took a step back, and looked up at an all too familiar face.

“Like, I guess Summer vacation made ya’ forget about the morning stampede, huh?” Shaggy Rogers himself directed a friendly smile down towards his shorter friend before he adjusted the green flannel shirt that was being worn over his dark colored V-neck.

“Believe me, it hasn’t once slipped my mind.” Velma grumbled as a light shade of pink crossed her freckled features before she adjusted the straps to her backpack, clearing her throat promptly before looking up at the male with her usual curious gaze.

“Heh. Nothin’ gets past you, Velma.” Shaggy’s smile became a little bigger as he seemed to be sporting a matching pink color on his own features. There seemed to be a bit of an awkward silence going on between the two students, before Shaggy suddenly realized why he had approached her in the first place.

“Oh, right! Uhm...Fred wanted us to meet him by his locker! Somethin’ about the armor. You wanna walk over there?” He rubbed the back of his skinny neck, while using his free hand to gesture down towards a particular direction. Of course Velma couldn’t resist smiling in amusement at the boy’s behavior. Who could?

“By all means. Please lead the way, Norville.” She instructed with a kind tone to her voice, though the name she used made the taller person twitch a bit in embarrassment. Even after all of these years, it seemed that the usage of his real name could still get to the hippie. Once the two cut their way around the corner, it was fairly easy to spot their two friends standing by the aforementioned locker.

“Guys, over here!” Fred eagerly waved Shaggy and Velma over, Daphne offering a polite wave of her own while looking ever-so-fashionable. Her colors mostly consisting of purple in the form of a clean jacket, and short skirt, while having on a light green undershirt to give a clear contrast with the pink scarf around her neck, tying the look all together with her lavender colored heels.

“What’s going on, Fred?” Velma crossed her hands behind her back as she glanced down at the notepad Fred was holding in his hand, right before looking up at him to listen to what he had to say.

“Okay. So, Shaggy, and I returned the knight to the museum this morning, and got in touch with the curator, Mr. Wickles. And, he told us something pretty interesting.” Flipping open one of his pages, Fred started reading through the various notes that he had taken during the delivery.

“We think the suit of armor might’ve gotten a little handsy with our professor, and was responsible for his disappearance.” Fred explained so casually, earning his friends a pretty nervous reaction, all except for Velma who just looked skeptical.

“But, the suit was empty when we found it. How could it suddenly come to life?” Velma asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Wickles said it was part of a legend that dates back a couple hundred years. A spirit’s been taking over the armor every time a full moon shows up. Based on last night’s moon? I have a sinking feeling that our English friend was a victim of this curse.” Fred finished his thoughts before closing the notepad, and stuffing it into the back pocket of his blue jeans.

“Jeepers...and, tonight’s supposed to be a blue moon!” Daphne pointed out with a shocked look on her face.

“Like, what’s a blue moon?” Shaggy tilted his head in confusion.

“Oh, it’s a full moon that happens a second time during a month. Luna Azul releases a new line of clothing every blue moon, and you can see the newest ones in ‘Calle Ocho Eightly’!” The redhead smiled as she pulled out a rolled up magazine from her purple purse, showing her friends the front cover of it. All three of them were frankly dumbfounded as they stared at a rather strange and skinny woman wearing a dress with stars on it, and what appeared to be a helmet in the shape of a full moon.

“...well, anyway. Scooby-Doo also found a clue while we were over there too.” Fred broke the silence as he reached into the top space of his locker, and pulled out the same freaky glasses that Scooby had been wearing only an hour ago.

“I was hoping you might be able to recognize what kind of glasses these are, Velma.” Fred handed the object over to the shorter student before she started examining them.

“Hmm...they look somewhat familiar, but I can’t quite interpret the significance of them immediately. I could do better research on them during study hall if that would help?” Velma suggested as she looked up at Fred.

“Perfect! We’ll all meet up there after lunch, so we can start getting a story straight. We haven’t had a case this big since July!” Just as Fred was proposing his plan, the four friends looked up to hear the bell ringing, signaling that it was time for them to head back to class.

“Ooh! Journalism time! Come on, Fred!” After eagerly waving goodbye towards Shaggy, and Velma for now, Daphne was quick to grab onto one of Fred’s arms so she could start dragging him towards their supposedly shared class together. 

“Like, I guess I’d better get moseying on over towards chef 101 myself! I gotta feeling I’m gonna need a whole new batch of Scooby Snacks. I’ll catch you later, V!” The lanky male flicked a two fingered salute to his shorter friend before heading down the opposite direction of the hallway. 

“Bye…” Velma was going to be in the process of returning the waving gesture, but Shaggy had turned before he could even see it, causing the girl to lower her hand right back down. It’s not like she had any reason to be upset, but maybe she just had been expecting him to possibly walk her to class like Fred did with Daphne, maybe? Certainly no telling.

The fact of the matter was that it had been a long four hours, for four meddling kids. None of the teenagers could take their minds off of the potential mystery they had waiting for them, but all of the waiting did eventually pay off by the time they were all meeting in the library like they had intended to do previously. Velma was of course the first to be seated a quiet table towards the corner of the large space, followed by Fred, Daphne, and of course Shaggy who had taken his sweet time getting through lunch as usual. Who could blame him for pizza being served in the cafeteria?

“Now that we’re all here, I believe I have some enlightening information to reveal about these spectacles.” Velma spoke quietly as she smiled and held up the pair of glasses towards her friends that were crowding around the book she was reading.

“They're a special type of magnifying glasses used by jewelers, scientists, and archeologists. Almost like the equivalent to a wearable magnifying glass. And, hold onto your hula hoops for this next factoid~.” Fred, and Shaggy had to take a second to look at each other in confusion in regards to the odd phrasing coming from Velma before they looked back to the page she was currently on.

“It says right here that they’re only made in England.” As soon as she finished her sentence, all three of her companions were starting to connect their own respective dots.

“Archaeology…” Fred slowly looked up.

“England…” Daphne voiced with a small gasp.

“...Professor Hyde White?!” Shaggy seemed to come to the conclusion quite loudly. Loud enough to make the rest of the library’s occupants shush him immediately, which made the timid boy duck his head down in embarrassment.

“Okay, that settles it. There’s something fishy going on inside of that museum.” Fred brought the quiet tone back down as he looked to the others.

“Y-You mean…?” Shaggy slowly poked out from behind Velma’s chair as he held a bit of a wary look on his face, knowing exactly what Fred was about to say. The girls of the group seemed to have excited smiles by comparison.

“Right, Shaggy. Tonight, I propose we all go fishing.” Smirking, the blonde crossed his arms over his chest.

“What are you thinking, Freddy?” Daphne had a delightful glimmer in her lavender shaded eye as she was prepared to listen to what the group’s leader had to say.

“An archaeologist’s glasses on the museum floor. We know what tonight’s moon is gonna be like. We know where the black knight is. I know the security is...terrible. If my hunch is correct, I’ll be willing to bet that someone might’ve planned to have Hyde White take an overnight visit.” Fred explained carefully, most specifically to Shaggy, even if he didn’t like the details.

“Hold on. Like, let’s just think about what we’re doin’ here. Are we actually gonna break into a museum, where a tall, haunted, shiny man could definitely come after us? I mean--how do we know the professor’s even there? This is...crazy!” Shaggy tried to stay as quiet as he could, but when he was talking about such a dangerous plan, it was almost impossible for him to merely just whisper about it.

“…Shaggy is kind of right.” Velma quietly spoke up, causing Fred and Daphne to both look at her with a surprised tone, like she had never said those words before.

“From a logical standpoint, perhaps it might be wise for us to call the local authorities, and report this to them?” Velma lightly shrugged her shoulders before she adjusted the glasses on her face.

“What _can_ we report? A cursed knight is roaming around the museum at night, so we have to lance it?” Daphne asked with the slightest hint of sarcasm.

“Lance it?” Shaggy held nothing but confusion on his face.

“Oh yeah. Those renaissance guys did _not_ play around back in the day.” Daphne slowly shook her head with wide eyes.

“Guys, guys, have I ever steered you wrong in my life? Shaggy, and I personally saw how superstitious a museum’s curator could possibly get. We practically _owe_ the man our extermination services, since we brought the rat in the first place!” Fred may have accidentally spoken his last few words too loudly, because the library was soon enough being filled with nothing but screams, and yells regarding the presence of the metaphorical rat that Fred had revealed. The rag-tag group of teens being the only ones left.

“…meet in the van after school?” Fred was the one to break the silence for his friends after a few seconds of awkwardness, right before they all nodded in unison.

_Sunday, August 7, 1989_

“No…way! Do your _parents_ even know that he can talk?!” A young Fred Jones asked with absolute amazement as he held both the cheeks of the puppy known as Scooby-Doo, who ended up licking the boy’s face as a response.

“Well…yeah! Pretty much everyone could see his Adam’s apple, so when he started talkin’, it wasn’t that big of a deal for us!” The slightly older Shaggy chuckled as he rubbed the top of his dog’s head.

“Man, I’d love to solve the mystery of how this kinda thing happens!” After Fred previously had a chance to hang out with Shaggy after saving him from Red Herring, the two boys got to know each other fairly well through their two-hour long gamily session at the local arcade. Fred was even granted access into Shaggy’s nifty, but rather beat-up looking treehouse. It was nothing that a few shades of paint couldn’t fix of course, a project that the two of them could work on together! With Scooby included, of course.

“Speaking of mysteries, did you guys hear about that yellow jalopy that got stolen yesterday? Cops are saying the thief’s already made off with bank from the Coolsville ferry boat, and he’s not even stopping!” Fred explained as he grabbed a couple of vanilla root beer bottles from the refrigerator. 

“Hey, like yeah! My dad’s been working that case. He’s saying someone with red hair was doing it. Heavy stuff.” Shaggy gratefully accepted one of the bottles, using his teeth to uncap it before taking a nice swig from it.

“Red hair, huh…?” Fred squinted almost immediately as soon as he heard those two specific words from his new friend. He wasn’t even drinking his soda as he pondered a few ideas over in his head.

“…you know what? I think we should solve this case!” Fred’s sudden declaration caused Shaggy to spit out a mouth full of root beer, unintentionally spraying it all over Scooby’s face and leaving him a dripping mess.

“Wh-What? What could the three of us do? Besides, w-we don’t even know where to start!” Shaggy pointed out after wiping his mouth.

“Reah!” Scooby chimed in as he used a towel to wipe himself clean of the beverage.

“Oh, yes we do! The car came from the school principal, Mr. Mortorn. If we go and talk to him, then we know more about the car. And, if we know more about the car…”

“…rhen we know more about the rheif?” Scooby blinked in confusion as he finished Fred’s sentence for him.

“Bingo! Guys, come on, we can totally do this, and it’s not like we have anything else to do, right? We’d be doing some good for our fellow man like good neighbors!” Fred said as a way of attempting to get the boy, and his dog on board with his plan. 

“Well…I guess if it’s to help somebody…right, Scoob?” Shaggy smiled at Scooby, who gave a responsive nod in agreement.

“Ret’s do it!”

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fiction that I'm ever writing, so expect my writing to be fleshed out a lot more as I get more developed in time. I have very many attempts planned for doing a personal re-write of 'Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?' set in a semi-modern era of the late 90's. These chapters will of course be based off the episodes, as a way of re-introducing some of the characters, and plots that you might vaguely remember. Hope you enjoy what you read!


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